Long Beach Has Long History with the Penn Relays - Let's Keep it That Way!

A Story by Michele Kreinheder | Updated 03/27/2016 11:15pm

I am a proud member of The Long Beach Century Club that meets once a week and has been raising money to help support Long Beach's amateur athletics for over 60 years. Last week week Poly's Athletic Director Crystal Irving made a surprise appearance to ask for help sending runners to this year's Penn Relays. Â It seems the threat of El Nino wrecked havoc with their planned fundraising meets and they are $10,000 short of funds. Â The kids are scouted at this event so Irving makes a point of carrying her runners transcripts with her to the meets.Â

To make sure we understood the importance of the request, Mike Guardabasio the preeminent Long Beach local sports beat writer for the Grunion and Press-Telegram was on hand to bring the event and its importance to life. It turns out relay races were started at the Penn Relays in 1895, and yes, that is the University of Pennsylvania, as in Ivy League, as in historic Philadelphia. Guardabasio attended the games in 2014 and was shocked to find Long Beach is well known among the 100,000 plus attendees and they even have their own cheering section. Go Poly!We did the traditional Century Club Â "pass the hat" and raised nearly $800. The Board was meeting afterwards and I have a feeling the club was able to help a tad more.Â PleaseÂ support the Poly High School Runners and keep a tradition going. Click Here for their Go-FundmeÂ accountÂ and forward this blog to all those former Poly students on your email list.Oh, and if you love local sports, like to hear coaches and young athletics talk about their experiences, and want to support Long Beach, join us each Tuesday at 6:00 at The Boathouse. We love guests!